


The Most Satisfying Thing In The World

by ununoriginal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-23
Updated: 2004-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-14 15:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/838665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ununoriginal/pseuds/ununoriginal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The new school year has been rather quiet of late. Draco-centric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Satisfying Thing In The World

Every morning, Draco would emerge from the darkness of the dungeons with his fellow Slytherins, blinking slightly at the morning light filtering through the windows of the corridor, before turning right to enter the Great Hall.  
  
Most of the time, they would meet the rabble descending from Gryffindor tower, coming from the other way, jostling and rowdy, being altogether much too noisy for that time of day.  
  
Used to be, whenever they came together at the entrance to the Great Hall, there would be heated insults hurled, to be retaliated with equally sharp epithets.  
  
Once in a while, things would become even more impetuous, and wands and fists would be drawn. If luck was with them, they could even get in a few good curses amidst the ruckus before Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall would intervene and drag them each back to their own side of the Hall, resentment seething across the intangible divide.  
  
These days, the most either group mustered were perfunctory sneers or glares, with a half-hearted jibe thrown in if someone was feeling particularly combative. Potter's group seemed rather morose of late, as if the thundercloud perpetually hanging over the golden boy's head had spread its miasma to his pathetic bunch of followers, tarnishing their brilliance. Draco himself was more preoccupied with family matters as well, and the future, with adulthood and all the responsibilities it would entail, suddenly seemed to be looming at the near horizon.  
  
The younger students took their cue from their seniors, and though outright conflict had tapered off with the passing of the new school year, the once-thin invisible line between the two houses seemed to have widened, resulting in a gulf more pronounced than ever before.  
  
Students would trickle through the doors, settling at their respective house tables with an orderliness that would have been considered mere fancy by the Hogwarts staff two years ago. There was still the scramble for food, the competition to report the most interesting tale, the huddling for a juicy bit of gossip, but their liveliness was muted. A low-key tension thrummed through the breakfast atmosphere, as if the wrong words or an inopportune giggle might spark off… something.  
  
Draco really couldn't care less about the icy reserve that now walled members of the two houses off from one another, but on certain mornings when their shoulders almost brushed, and their gazes met before sliding away like a mere glance between strangers, he thought he could feel a distant pang.  
  
He would dismiss it then, priding himself on his aloof behaviour, his ability to maintain a reserve befitting his breeding. He was older now, more mature, and he no longer had stoop to their level. Pranks and silly rhymes were a thing of the past. Besides, they drew attention to him, and he quite felt that he was receiving more interest than he would prefer from certain quarters nowadays.  
  
Yet sometimes, when he felt like being honest with himself, he thought he might actually miss those days of old, when a flash of red in the morning was enough to bring an instantaneous insult to his lips, and seeing pale freckled skin flush with speechless anger was the most satisfying thing in the world.


End file.
